‘Scream’ Has Become the Butt of Its Own Joke

The slasher genre was well-established when the Scream franchise arrived, but no film to that point had dissected itself as much as its victims. Since the original film opened with its biggest star, Drew Barrymore, getting quizzed on horror movies over a mysterious phone call before meeting a grisly end at the hands of a masked killer, Scream has managed to be the best of both worlds: a self-aware slasher that nevertheless indulges in genre clichés. Consider: Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott mocking the trope of a girl running upstairs instead of going out the front door, only to do the same after Ghostface lunges out of her closet.